Bad Eggs are not really Pokémon Eggs, and may possibly never have been, but instead the default message returned by the game if the checksum is wrong (which happens only if data is altered badly). Bad Eggs rarely hatch and cannot be released, merely taking up space, though there are methods of removing them—it is possible to trade a Bad Egg away into another game, or remove it by cheating.

Game data

Like a normal Egg, Bad Eggs appear with a type of ???, as well as have the same Pokémon status screen as an Egg would. Despite this, the similarities end there, as Bad Eggs can be holding items (such as Cherish Balls, which cannot be taken), be placed within types of Poké Balls aside from the standard kind, and have Seals attached—which prevents them from being deposited in the PC. After that, it is only possible to remove the seal from the Bad Egg by depositing it into the Pokémon Day Care.
Some may be reported to have Pokérus or be cured of it, and may be fainted.

A Bad Egg placed in the first slot of the party will, rather than having a normal Egg menu sprite, have a differently colored version of the menu sprite of the Pokémon following it, such as a golden Bulbasaur, a blue Marowak, or a brown Ho-Oh. It is unknown exactly why the sprite retains the last Pokémon's sprite, but the color change is because of the use of palette 0 for this sprite—this is why Pokémon with palette 0 do not change color.

Being an Egg, it cannot be released.

If it is forced to hatch through use of a cheat code, a ? will come out and the game will immediately freeze.

Since Generation IV, a Bad Egg will be listed as being received on 0/0/2000, with the place received listed as the Mystery Zone.

Bad Eggs re-appear in Generation VI, not to be confused with 'mystery Eggs'.

Evolution

Appearances of Bad Eggs

Generation III

When using the GameShark code for quick Day Care level-up, an invisible Bad Egg will appear in the party, which can be switched around using the PC and used in battle. Sometimes, the Bad Egg will take form of the silhouette of a Pokémon in the PC Box. However, attempting to view its summary screen will cause a game freeze.

Alternatively, by using codes to capture wild Pokémon instantly, reducing their HP to 0 yet keeping the battle going, it will be sent to the PC instead as a Bad Egg. This Bad Egg can be removed from the game by picking up another Pokémon while it is held, then setting it back down. This Bad Egg appears differently; instead of an Egg in its status box, it is the "unseen Pokémon" image used in the Pokédex and by ??????????. Like ??????????, using it in battle will cause an instant white out (if used without any other Pokémon in the party).

Bad Eggs can also occur if the player attempts to hack a Pokémon which has an illegal moveset, as the checksums will not add up correctly (as the checksum would use the Pokémon's normal moveset at that level as a check).

In Emerald, when warp cheat codes are used to steal from the Battle Factory, an invisible Bad Egg appears in the 19th slot of the 1st box in the PC Storage. If a Pokémon is in that slot, it corrupts the Pokémon and merges into a proper Bad Egg.

Generation IV

Index number 495

In addition to forcing an ordinary Pokémon to have an invalid checksum, it is possible to encounter a Bad Egg in the wild by using an Action Replay on Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum and setting the wild Pokémon modifier code to 495 (an identifier of Manaphy Egg, although a Manaphy Egg is rendered as a Bad Egg in battle). The game will freeze instantly on capture when the game attempts to show the Pokédex entry, though some emulator versions allow it. A normal Egg captured this way (using an identifier of 494) will hatch into a random Pokémon, including Pokémon that do not normally hatch from Eggs like legendary Pokémon and evolved Pokémon, or may hatch into ----- or, like its Generation II counterpart, another Egg (which will then go on to hatch into a ----- itself). Due to being incorrectly generated, whatever is hatched may eventually turn into a Bad Egg itself, and then subsequently hatch yet again. The use of an Action Replay with a "1 hit kill" cheat in Double Battles will often result in a Bad Egg appearing. If the player sees a Bad Egg, the game will occasionally freeze. If Transform is used against a Bad Egg, its backsprite will be exactly the same as its front sprite and the only move it knows is Splash.

An Action Replay code can give the player a Bad Egg that is infected with the Pokerus, which will eventually hatch into a ShinyRotom that is in Fan form.

From catching other Trainers' Pokémon via cheat

If the cheat to catch other Trainers' Pokémon is used, often the Pokémon caught, if following moving after another Pokémon, will either be named the same as the previous Pokémon, Bad Egg, or have a blank name. There are no other side effects.

If the player has a hacked Pokémon, although it won't appear to be a Bad Egg on a DS game, it will show up as a Bad Egg on Pokémon Battle Revolution if used in a DS battle.

Generation V

Generation V Action Replay code

In Generation V, if a wild Pokémon modifier code is used to encounter a Pokémon with a National Pokédex number greater than 649, a Bad Egg may appear as a result. The Egg will flee from battle. Catching the Egg will result in the message for a successfully caught Pokémon, but the data of the Egg will be deleted after the battle. The Egg does not have a Pokédex entry or any status information. The player's Pokémon will not earn any experience after the battle. Due to the removal of Seals as a game mechanic, Generation V Bad Eggs cannot have Seals.

Generation VI

This glitch is in need of research. Reason:Are the Bad Eggs accessible as their own species like in Generation IV, and/or through corrupted Pokémon data?You can discuss this on the talk page.

They are not to be confused with 'mystery Eggs'; which are not actually named Bad Eggs in game, but like Bad Eggs, mystery Eggs seemingly never hatch. The mystery Egg's summary card is completely blank, showing only the Egg sprite and the standard background.

In other languages

This section is incomplete.Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Korean names in DPPtHGSS; German, French, Italian, Korean, and Spanish names in BWB2W2 and XYORAS.